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Seeing this old Connect 4 game took me on a nostalgic trip back to the early 80s, sprawled out on our old brown carpeting, spending hours strategizing, stacking the chips, then pulling the lever and watching them all fall. And the fact that three classmates thought to convert it into a binary clock and share the build instructions on Make: Projects made me all kinds of happy.

From the intro:

This is a great weekend project that will provide you with a sleek and nostalgic binary clock all at once. We focused on recycling every part of the Connect 4 game to exemplify our “green” standards, and be as creative as possible. The Connect 4 works superbly in displaying a binary clock because it has perfectly rounded holes to showcase the LED-based binary numbering system.

You don’t need many supplies to make this binary clock, and it’s a great way to utilize an old Connect 4 game if you’ve lost some of the pieces, or simply want to show off your mad creative skills. And don’t worry about the coding – which we struggled against in an epic battle between sanity and madness – we already have it laid out for you!

I’m a word nerd who loves to geek out on how emerging technology affects the lexicon. When not fawning over perfect word choices, I can be found on the nearest mountain, looking for untouched powder fields and ideal alpine lakes.

I was an editor for the first 40 volumes of MAKE. The maker movement provides me with endless inspiration, and I love shining light on the incredible makers in our community. Covering art is my passion — after all, art is the first thing most of us ever made.